Best PlacesBarstow, TX Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around Barstow, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. Several measures below read low, and the ranked lists name which ones. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
Barstow ranks 45,435th of 50,333 U.S. towns on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on cell coverage by a wide margin, and crime is the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in Barstow
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
Barstow's strengths and weaknesses
Where Barstow ranks high
- Cell coverageBetter than 99% of towns
- Low property taxBetter than 97% of towns
- Housing crash safetyBetter than 95% of towns
- Low income/sales/gas taxBetter than 92% of towns
- Nice weatherabout 134 pleasant days a year, better than 87% of towns
Where Barstow ranks low
- Crime safetyBetter than only 2% of towns
- Tree shadeBetter than only 2% of towns
- Healthcare accessBetter than only 2% of towns
- Big-city accessBetter than only 3% of towns
- Local economyBetter than only 4% of towns
What it costs to buy a home in Barstow
A household needs to earn about $50,000 a year to comfortably buy the median Barstow home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That is below the area's own median income of $63,866, so a typical household can afford the median home outright.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses Barstow's effective rate of 0.24%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Who lives in Barstow
Barstow runs older than the country, and households here run smaller than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for Barstow.
Who works in Barstow, and how
Work in Barstow centers on construction and mining & oil & gas. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 96%
- Work from home 2%
- Transit, walk, or bike 2%
Life in Barstow
The map and measures below break down dining, culture, and green space by neighborhood across Barstow.
What the weather is like in Barstow, month by month
Barstow sees roughly 134 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 101 degrees. January highs sit near 62, with lows near 31. The comfortable stretch runs March, April, and October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 62° | 44° | 31° |
| April | 86° | 67° | 50° |
| July | 101° | 86° | 72° |
| October | 84° | 66° | 52° |
Flying in and out of Barstow
The nearest airport, Midland International Air And Space Port, is about 79 miles away and is a small airport. The nearest major hub is Albuquerque International Sunport, about 309 miles away.
The best schools in and around Barstow
Schools across Barstow average a D+, better than 18% of towns.
Top elementary schools
- Tatom ElC+ · 38% proficient
- Haynes ElC · 31% proficient
- Parkway ElC− · 29% proficient
Top high schools
- Monahans H SC+ · 40% proficient
- Pecos H SD · 22% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every Barstow school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
Barstow measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare Barstow against the other 50,332 towns.
Common questions about living in Barstow
Is Barstow a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, Barstow ranks 45,435th of 50,333 towns. It scores highest on cell coverage, low property taxes, and a stable housing market, and lowest on crime and tree cover. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is Barstow expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $208,314. The overall cost of living runs about 16% below the national average. Set against a $63,866 median income, cost of living beats 43% of towns.
Is Barstow safe?
Barstow is safer than 2% of towns. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $1,111 per resident a year.
Compare Barstow with other towns
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to Barstow. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in Barstow represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
Barstow detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for Barstow: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in Barstow: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of Barstow: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in Barstow: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
Barstow detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.